Paris Trance by Geoff Dyer

People talk about love at first sight, about the way that men and women fall for each other immediately, but there is also such a thing as friendship at first sight . . .

Luke moves to Paris with the idea of writing a novel but things get in the way. He becomes friends with a fellow expatriate, Alex; then he falls in love with Nicole. Alex meets Sahra, and the two couples form an intimacy that changes their lives. As they discover the clubs and cafs of the eleventh arrondissement, the four become inseparable, united by deeply held convictions about dating strategies, tunneling in P.O.W. films, and, crucially, the role of the Styrofoam cup in action movies. Experiencing the exhilarating highs of Ecstasy and sex, they reach a peak of rapture-the comedown from which is unexpected and devastating.

In his latest book, Geoff Dyer fixes a dream of happiness-and its aftermath-with photographic precision. Boldly erotic and hauntingly elegiac, comic and romantic, Paris Trance confirms Dyer as one of England's most original and talented writers.

Unrated Critic Reviews for Paris Trance

Kirkus Reviews

Not so many years ago, at the age of 26, Luke Barnes moved from London to Paris to write “a book based on his experiences of living.” In Paris, Luke goes to a lot of movies (especially action thrillers and POW films) and eventually finds work at the Garnier Warehouse, where he meets narrator Alex...

Publishers Weekly

The two couples spend their time in search of the ultimate experience, the eternal ""now."" They vacation together, experiment with sex and drugs and go to dance clubs where the trance-like music prescribes ""no distance or direction."" Inevitably, ecstasy loses its edge, and as if compelled to e...